Erith family ‘left with nothing’ after fire (From News Shopper)

Erith family ‘left with nothing’ after fire

1:54pm Tuesday 11th November 2008 in

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A FAMILY are still living in the burnt-out remains of their home after a fire gutted part of their house.

But even in the middle of their devastation, Shenica Williamson, 43, and her family say their thoughts are with Fiona Charlesworth, who remains critical after a fire at her home in Clive Road, Belvedere, which killed her two children, on October 28.

Ms Williamson said: “At least we are alive.

“We are all thinking about the family in Clive Road.”

Mrs Williamson and her family escaped injury when an electrical fault sparked the blaze at around 9.30pm in their four-bedroom privately rented house in South Road, Erith, on November 3.

The fire started in the bedroom of her daughter Seana-May, 13, but luckily, she was out with her mother at the time.

Her son Desmond, 14, was also out.

Ms Williamson’s partner Owen Desmond, 53, their two-year-old son, Colin, and lodger Paul Smith all managed to escape the house.

But the upstairs bedrooms are now uninhabitable.

Ms Williamson, who is disabled, said: “We have been left with nothing, only what we were standing up in.”

Their landlord’s insurance will pay for all the repairs and redecoration, but the couple, who only moved in two weeks before the fire, have no contents insurance.

They are now living downstairs with no heating or hot water and only the electrical sockets are working.

The landlord’s insurers have provided deodorisers because the smell from the burnt-out rooms was making the family ill.

And cleaners arrived last weekend and briefly began work, before leaving for another clean-up job.

Ms Williamson says the family has been unable to get assistance save for a £60 social security grant.

She added: “But our neighbours have been wonderful.”

The next-door neighbour ran a cable to them to give them an initial electricity supply and tried to wash some of the clothes.

Another has housed Seana-May and Desmond temporarily, and provided Seana-May with clothes.

Ms Williamson added: “I think we might have given up without their help.”